In early 2013, the first global Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) visible infrared imaging radiometer suite (VIIRS) nighttime light composite data were released. Up to present, few studies have been conducted to evaluate the ability of NPP-VIIRS data to estimate the amount of freight traffic. This paper provides an exploratory evaluation on the NPP-VIIRS data for estimating the total freight traffic (TFT) in China, in comparison with the results derived from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime stable light composite data. We first corrected the original NPP-VIIRS data by employing a simple method to remove the outliers. The total nighttime light (TNL) which is measured by the sum value of all pixels from the nighttime light composite data was then regressed on TFT at the provincial level of China. Finally, the spatial distribution patterns of TFT were produced from the corrected NPP-VIIRS and DMSP-OLS data, respectively, and validated by the TFT statistics of 244 prefectures. The results have demonstrated that the corrected NPP-VIIRS data are more suitable for modeling TFT in China than the DMSP-OLS data.

Sub-pixel mapping of flood inundation (SMFI) is one of the hotspots in remote sensing and relevant research and application fields. In this study, a novel method based on the integration of Bayesian regulation back-propagation neural network (BRBP) and particle swarm optimization (PSO), so-called IBRBPPSO, is proposed for SMFI in river basins. The IBRBPPSO-SMFI algorithm was developed and evaluated using Landsat images fromthe Changjiang river basin in China and the Murray-Darling basin in Australia. Compared with traditional SMFI methods, IBRBPPSO-SMFI consistently achieves the most accurate SMFI results in terms of visual and quantitative evaluations. IBRBPPSO-SMFI is superior to PSO-SMFI with not only an improved accuracy, but also an accelerated convergence speed of the algorithm. IBRBPPSO-SMFI reduces the uncertainty in mapping inundation in river basins by improving the accuracy of SMFI. The result of this study will also enrich the SMFI methodology, and thereby benefit the environmental studies of river basins.

Effectively evaluating the effects of urban forms on CO2 emissions has become a hot topic in socioeconomic sustainable development; however, few studies have been able to explore the urban form-CO2 emission relationships from a multi-perspective view. Here, we attempted to analyze the relationships between urban forms and CO2 emissions in 264 Chinese cities, with explicit consideration of the government policies, urban area size, population size, and economic structure. First, urban forms were calculated using the urban land derived from multiple-source remote sensing data. Second, we collected and processed CO2 emissions and three control variables. Finally, a correlation analysis was implemented to explore whether and to what extent the spatial patterns of urban forms were associated with CO2 emissions. The results show that urban form irregularity had a more significant impact on CO2 emissions in low-carbon pilot cities than in non-pilot cities. The impact of the complexity of urban forms on CO2 emissions was relatively significant in the small- and large-sized cities than in the medium-sized cities. Moreover, urban form complexity had a significant correlation with CO2 emissions in all of the cities, the level of which basically increased with the population size. This study provides scientific bases for use in policy-making to prepare effective policies for developing a low-carbon economy with consideration of the associations between urban forms and CO2 emissions in different scenarios.

The rapid development of global industrialization and urbanization has resulted in a great deal of electric power consumption (EPC), which is closely related to economic growth, carbon emissions, and the long-term stability of global climate. This study attempts to detect spatiotemporal dynamics of global EPC using the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime stable light (NSL) data. The global NSL data from 1992 to 2013 were intercalibrated via a modified invariant region (MIR) method. The global EPC at 1 km resolution was then modeled using the intercalibrated NSL data to assess spatiotemporal dynamics of EPC from a global scale down to continental and national scales. The results showed that the MIR method not only reduced the saturated lighted pixels, but also improved the continuity and comparability of the NSL data. An accuracy assessment was undertaken and confined that the intercalibrated NSL data were relatively suitable and accurate for estimating EPC in the world. Spatiotemporal variations of EPC were mainly identified in Europe, North America, and Asia. Special attention should be paid to China where the high grade and high-growth type of EPC covered 0.409% and 1.041% of the total country area during the study period, respectively. The results of this study greatly enhance the understanding of spatiotemporal dynamics of global EPC at the multiple scales. They will provide a scientific evidence base for tracking spatiotemporal dynamics of global EPC. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The nighttime light data records artificial light on the Earth's surface and can be used to estimate the spatial distribution of the gross domestic product (GDP) and the electric power consumption (EPC). In early 2013, the first global NPP-VIIRS nighttime light data were released by the Earth Observation Group of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Geophysical Data Center (NOAA/NGDC). As new-generation data, NPP-VIIRS data have a higher spatial resolution and a wider radiometric detection range than the traditional DMSP-OLS nighttime light data. This study aims to investigate the potential of NPP-VIIRS data in modeling GDP and EPC at multiple scales through a case study of China. A series of preprocessing procedures are proposed to reduce the background noise of original data and to generate corrected NPP-VIIRS nighttime light images. Subsequently, linear regression is used to fit the correlation between the total nighttime light (TNL) (which is extracted from corrected NPP-VIIRS data and DMSP-OLS data) and the GDP and EPC (which is from the country's statistical data) at provincial-and prefectural-level divisions of mainland China. The result of the linear regression shows that R-2 values of TNL from NPP-VIIRS with GDP and EPC at multiple scales are all higher than those from DMSP-OLS data. This study reveals that the NPP-VIIRS data can be a powerful tool for modeling socioeconomic indicators; such as GDP and EPC.

China's rapid industrialization and urbanization have resulted in a great deal of CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, which is closely related to its sustainable development and the long term stability of global climate. This study proposes panel data analysis to model spatiotemporal CO2 emission dynamics at a higher resolution in China by integrating the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime stable light (NSL) data with statistic data of CO2 emissions. Spatiotemporal CO2 emission dynamics were assessed from national scale down to regional and urban agglomeration scales. The evaluation showed that there was a true positive correlation between NSL data and statistic CO2 emissions in China at the provincial level from 1997 to 2012, which could be suitable for estimating CO2 emissions at 1 km resolution. The spatiotemporal CO2 emission dynamics between different regions varied greatly. The high-growth type and high-grade of CO2 emissions were mainly distributed in the Eastern region, Shandong Peninsula and Middle south of Liaoning, with clearly lower concentrations in the Western region, Central region and Sichuan-Chongqing. The results of this study will enhance the understanding of spatiotemporal variations of CO2 emissions in China. They will provide a scientific basis for policy-making on viable CO2 emission mitigation policies. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploring the coupling relationship between urban land and carbon emissions (CE) is one of the important premises for coordinating the urban development and the ecological environment. Due to the influence of the scale effect, a systematic evaluation of the CE at different scales will help to develop more reasonable strategies for low-carbon urban planning. However, corresponding studies are still lacking. Hence, two administrative scales (e.g., region and county) in Chongqing were selected as experimental objects to compare and analyze the CE at different scales using the spatiotemporal coupling and coupling coordination models. The results show that urban land and carbon emissions presented a significant growth trend in Chongqing at different scales from 2000 to 2015. The strength of the spatiotemporal coupling relationship between urban land and total carbon emissions gradually increased with increasing scale. At the regional scale, the high coupling coordination between urban land and total carbon emissions was mainly concentrated in the urban functional development region. Additionally, the high coupling coordination between urban land and carbon emission intensity (OI) was still located in the counties within the metropolitan region of Chongqing, but the low OI was mainly distributed in the counties in the northeastern and southeastern regions of Chongqing at the county level. This study illustrates the multiscale trend of CE and suggests differentiated urban land and carbon emission reduction policies for controlling urban land sprawl and reducing carbon emissions.

Super-resolution mapping of urban flood (SMUF) is one of the hotspots in remote sensing and urban environment research. In this letter, a new SMUF method based on the fusion of support vector machine and general regression neural network (FSVMGRNN) was proposed to achieve enhanced performance. An SVM-SMUF algorithm was developed and a fusion criterion was formulated. Then, the FSVMGRNN-SMUF algorithm was developed. The results of FSVMGRNN-SMUF were evaluated using Landsat 8 OLI imagery of two representative cities in China. FSVMGRNN-SMUF yielded the most accurate SMUF results among the five SMUF methods according to visual comparisons and quantitative comparisons. The mapping accuracy of FSVMGRNN-SMUF related to the kernel functions was also analyzed and discussed. The results of this letter will help to boost practical applications of median-low resolution remote sensing images in urban flooding mapping, and to strengthen the means for monitoring and assessing urban flooding disasters.

Poverty is a chronic worldwide dilemma that can seriously hamper human sustainable development, which is closely related to economic growth, environmental protection, ecological restoration, and sustainable utilization of resources. Accurately and effectively identifying and evaluating poverty has become an important prerequisite for allowing Chinese governments to make reasonable poverty reduction and alleviation policies. Thus, using Chongqing as a study area, the purpose of this study was to analyze poverty from multiple viewpoints based on multiple data sources. First, a comprehensive poverty index (CPI) was developed by combining nighttime light data, the digital elevation model (DEM), the normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI), and point of interest (POI) data to map poverty at a 500-m spatial resolution. Then, the performance of the CPI was validated with poverty-stricken villages, Google Earth images, and the multidimensional poverty index (MPI). Finally, spatial autocorrelation analysis was used to explore the spatial distribution of poverty across county and town levels. The results revealed that the CPI could provide an effective way of identifying the spatial distribution of poverty when compared with three validated indexes. Most of the rich counties were in the center of Chongqing, whereas the poor counties were located in the northeast and southeast of Chongqing. The Global Moran's I index showed that there were significantly positive spatial autocorrelations of poverty, and that the spatial autocorrelation of poverty was more significant at the town level compared to the county level. Among the selected factors, the POI cost distance was the most import factor for assessing poverty. Our study will be valuable for providing scientific references for the government to implement precise poverty alleviation methods with differentiated policies in China. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.